First Extensive Polyphenolic Profile of Erodium cicutarium with Novel Insights to Elemental Composition and Antioxidant Activity

Erodium cicutarium is known for its total polyphenolic content, but this work reveals the first highly detailed profile of E. cicutarium , obtained with UHPLC-LTQ OrbiTrap MS 4 and UHPLC-DAD MS/MS techniques. A total of 85 phenolic compounds were identified and 17 constituents quantified. Overall, 25 new compounds were found, which have not yet been reported for the Erodium genera, or the family Geraniaceae. Along with methanolic extracts, the so far poorly investigated water extracts exhibited in vitro antioxidant activity according to all performed assays, including the ferric reducing/antioxidant power assay (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay (DPPH), 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) assay (ABTS) and cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity assay (CUPRAC). Elemental composition analysis performed with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and, additionally, hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HydrEA-ETAAS) showed six most abundant elements to be decreasing as follows Mg > Ca > K > S > P > Na, and gave first data regarding inorganic arsenic content (109.3-248.4 ng g -1 ). These results suggest E. cicutarium to be a valuable source of various phenolic compounds with substantial potential for further bioactivity testing.

Keywords: Erodium cicutarium; Geraniaceae; antioxidant activity; inorganic arsenic species; polyphenolic profiling.